The present invention relates to data storage, and more particularly, this invention relates to copy services management software in data storage systems and networks.
Currently, when a data storage infrastructure experiences a disaster involving complete loss of one or more storage systems or complete loss of communication between storage systems, there is no way of automatically initiating copy services with a second storage system, even if the second storage system is configured identically to the lost storage system. Thus, in the event of a disaster destroying a storage system completely, the user would have to manually bring up the second storage system, configure it exactly the same, and reconfigure the copy services management software to create new relationships in order to start the copy services from the first storage system to the second storage system, and/or vice-versa.
In conventional copy services management software, this process has been performed manually, even if the second storage system is configured exactly the same as the first storage system, because the serial numbers, location, etc., for the two storage systems are different. As a result, users who experience a disaster involving complete loss of a storage system or complete loss of communication between storage systems face a manually intensive and time-consuming recovery process. System downtime during such a manual recovery process can be significant, especially today, where typical storage systems are large and involve complex relational structures including thousands of data storage relationships and huge volumes of data. The ultimate result leaves current copy management services customers without any significant disaster recovery capability for an extended period of time. Furthermore, it is often easy for a user to create recovery sessions incorrectly, producing additional errors that further contribute to system downtime, especially with complex copy types.
Moreover, similar concerns regarding high-speed, high-fidelity and highly accurate reconstruction of storage systems and copy relationships are presented by hardware upgrades that require data migration onto a replacement system, because the same copy relationships must be consistently and accurately replicated from the first storage system to the second storage system, and/or vice versa.